


Loyalty

by RikkuRiddle



Category: Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VII, Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII Lateral Biography: TURKS ~The Kids Are Alright~ - Nojima Kazushige, Final Fantasy VII Remake (Video Game 2020), Final Fantasy VIII
Genre: (light) asphyxiation kink, Eventual Smut, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, murders because this is the turks i'm writing about, some none too graphic violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-25
Updated: 2020-07-12
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:42:04
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 18,970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24375958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RikkuRiddle/pseuds/RikkuRiddle
Summary: After an attempt on Rufus's life, Tseng and Rufus go into hiding in Mideel. Their 24/7 proximity and Rufus' careless flirting are putting Tseng's self-restraint to the test.
Relationships: Rufus Shinra/Tseng
Comments: 45
Kudos: 132





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I'm hoping this won't be longer than three chapters. xD It was supposed to be a oneshot but alas. 
> 
> The rating might go up later, due to sexual content. 
> 
> Enjoy! :)

Tseng was standing in front of the mirror in the hallway and tying his hair back into a ponytail. Wearing it up again after such a long time was hard to get used to but with the humidity in Mideel, there was really no way he could leave it down. 

With a frown, he watched Rufus lying on the sofa in the living room from the corner of his eyes.

Ever since the attempt on Rufus’ life in Junon five days ago, they’d been more or less confined to a small apartment in Mideel. In Tseng’s eyes the place was perfectly reasonably sized and had all the amenities necessary to take care of ones basic needs.

The error in his judgement had been the assumption that Rufus’ needs were ‘basic.’ To Rufus the place was “a shithole that I wouldn’t keep rabbits in if I had any.”

But since time as well as anonymity had been of the essence, they didn’t have the luxury to rent a top tier condo for thousands of gil that would be easily traceable. Not that any of those could be had in Mideel. Rufus knew that. Sadly, it didn’t stop him from complaining about their poor living conditions every waking moment.

Unlike Rufus’ temper tantrums, what actually worried him was what had made it necessary for them to hide out here in Mideel. There had been attempts on Rufus’ life before and under normal circumstances, it would’ve been perfectly safe to retreat to Shinra HQ until the shooter and/or the people behind him or her were found. This time however… 

As of now they were labouring under the strong suspicion that – no matter how little sense it made on the surface – President Shinra himself had orchestrated the assassination attempt. If they would find solid proof it would strictly speaking mean, Tseng as well as the rest of the Turks were currently working against their employer. 

Hence, the clandestine getaway while Reno and Rude were back at HQ trying to find out what they could. Tseng had taken his company issued phone apart and bought a new one in Mideel with which he stayed in contact with them. So far they had turned up nothing. 

The circumstantial evidence that had let them to believe that President Shinra had tried to kill his son had, despite the poor father son relationship, genuinely shocked Rufus. 

Tseng wasn’t sure how to feel about it, not that his feelings on the matter would change the situation one way or the other. Rufus had tried to get his father killed numerous times, if not as overtly as through an assassination attempt, so why Rufus was so surprised at his father turning the tables, he didn’t know. But perhaps Tseng had accepted long ago that Rufus’ and his father’s relationship wasn’t something ‘normal’ people could comprehend. 

Be that as it may, ever since they had arrived in Mideel, Rufus had been, for a lack of better words, started to follow him around like a lost puppy. Not that he’d ever use that particular phrase within the VP’s earshot. 

Tseng usually tried to establish a daily routine wherever he was, to keep himself occupied and his thoughts focused on the task at hand. If he’d resorted to sitting around all day like Rufus mostly had, he’d probably be in just as bad a mood. 

There was a soft brush against his calf that had him glancing down. 

Ah yes. 

And then there was the cat. 

The landlady, upon renting them the place, had made it very clear that her cat expected to have access to all her flats and that she wouldn’t tolerate tenants that locked it out. So here it was. 

Tseng couldn’t say he minded the cat very much. In fact, after the landlady’s assurances that the cat was healthy and vaccinated, he’d discovered that he quite enjoyed the little companion that kept following him around. 

While the cat, it didn’t seem to have a name, had taken a liking to Tseng, it stayed clear of Rufus, which was just as well because Rufus firstly wasn’t a cat person and secondly had started to proclaim that he was allergic to cats. 

He wasn’t. 

Tseng of all people would know and Rufus knew that as well. 

Of all the things, Tseng wouldn’t be careless enough to let the VP die in some sort of freak accident, due to an allergy that Tseng hadn’t been previously aware of. If Rufus actually had been allergic, Tseng would’ve found a way to dissuade the cat from entering their flat but since his charge wasn’t, he saw no need to interfere. 

So now he had a cat and a puppy following him around. Unlike Rufus, however, the cat was actually pleasant to have around. Quiet, well-behaved and unobtrusive. All the things Rufus wasn’t. 

Tseng frowned at his reflection. 

The ponytail didn’t look the way he’d like it to but his hair was too long and too heavy to be tied up as tightly and neatly as he wished without giving him a headache shortly after. 

Tseng walked into the living room and looked at Rufus while doing his best to keep a straight face. “I will be going for a walk. Do you want to join me?”

Rufus scowled at him. “Whatever for? It’s hot and boring outside.” 

It was also hot and boring inside, Tseng thought long-sufferingly but said instead, “Alright. I should be back in an hour, two at most.”

“No.” Rufus stood abruptly. “I’ll come. Who am I going to bother if you’re not around?”

_Wonderful._

“As you wish.” Turning around, Tseng grabbed an umbrella by the door. With Mideel’s fickle weather, it was best to be prepared for unexpected rainfall. 

The cat joined them at the door. 

Tseng bit back a smile at Rufus’ “The cat is _not_ coming!” He shrugged in response. “Feel free to reason with her.”

The problem solved itself, when the cat, after rubbing against Tseng’s leg once more, sauntered back into the living room and curled up on the sofa. 

Just outside the house they ran into their landlady. A kind elderly woman that regularly sent her ‘boys’, Tseng was under the impression that they were her sons, around the flats if anything needed fixing. She was holding another cat in her arms when she spotted them. 

“Ah, Tseng, and-“ She squinted at Rufus who had yet to exchange a single word with her. “The boyfriend.”

If it hadn’t been for his years of training, Tseng would not have been able to keep his face as carefully blank as he did that very moment. Rufus certainly didn’t. 

The landlady noticed Rufus’ irritated huff. “Oh, I’m sorry. You don’t look like brothers, so I thought...”

Stepping in, before the conversation escalated, Tseng said, “We will be going for a walk. Your cat is in our flat. It seemed content.”

She smiled at him. “Ah, that’s wonderful. Go past all the shops and then turn right. There are some stairs leading down to the beach. It’s less crowded if you go that route.”

“Thank you. We will do that.”

Tseng marched off without waiting for Rufus but hoping very strongly that he would follow without starting a fight with their landlady. They couldn’t afford to be thrown out. The place was out of the way and a little set apart from the rest of the town, so that on the off chance of somebody from Shinra showing up in Mideel, they wouldn’t be as easily found. 

“Boyfriend? Why didn’t you explain to her-“

“What? That you’re Rufus Shinra and I’m one of the Turks working for you?” Tseng sighed. “I thought it best to let her come to whatever conclusion she wished, instead of raising more questions.”

Rufus shoved his hands into his pants pockets and scowled. 

“Besides, you’re allowed to speak for yourself.” 

“And what? Listen to that little inhale you do when you’re displeased or how you don’t quite roll your eyes but also do? Because how dare I speak without first consulting my security personnel.” 

“I’m merely trying to be cautious, not offend you.”

How were they the same age? In moments like this, Tseng had to reign himself in very hard as to not forget who he was speaking to. Rufus was still his superior and the vice president of Shinra Electric Power Company, not some spoiled little… 

Tseng sighed inwardly. 

Rufus could be very smart and cunning, certainly more so than his father, if he so chose, only sometimes he didn’t. So, in theory, Tseng knew Rufus was neither stupid nor careless but maybe growing up the way he had, made one somewhat… dismissive of the ‘common people’. At least that was how Tseng tried to retain some sympathy for or perhaps insight into Rufus’ sometimes frankly rude and appalling behaviour.

“Sometimes your damn presence is enough to offend me,” Rufus muttered. 

“My apologies.” 

It had taken him several days to get used to not calling Rufus ‘sir’ and even now he slipped up occasionally but when they were out in public he took extra care not to make mistakes. He still wasn’t sure how he felt about wearing casual clothing while strictly speaking being on the job 24/7. It was certainly pleasant not having to wear his uniform in Mideel’s weather but the whole situation felt too casual to be work and it set his teeth on edge. 

“You talked to Reno this morning. Have they found anything out yet?”

Tseng glanced at Rufus, struggling with himself whether to discuss sensitive info out in the open or not. The likelihood of a room being bugged was no doubt greater than anything or anyone spying on them out here, especially with nobody around. And yet.

Rufus rolled his eyes. “I swear to god, I’ll strangle you one day. Who’s gonna spy on us here? The parrot?” He glared at the colourful bird in one of the palm trees they passed. 

Tseng bit back the comment that it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility. Being cautious was commendable while being paranoid wasn’t. “There are no news.”

“How’s that possible? If the old man set the whole thing up, he must’ve gone through Heidegger and that man’s an idiot. They should’ve found something by now.”

Tseng couldn’t argue with Rufus’ reasoning since his own had looked much the same. “Maybe he really has gone through someone external.” They’d had an almost identical discussion every day since their arrival. It never led anywhere but to further frustration on both their parts. 

“I can’t imagine who. They’d have to be more skilled than the Turks if you can’t find them.”

Tseng frowned. 

“Maybe I should hire them once we find out,” Rufus mused with relish.

“If you wish.” 

“It’d mean that you’d get fired.” 

“If that’s all I have to fear.”

Everyone knew a Turk didn’t simply retire. Even the lower ranking members were privy to far too much sensitive intel, to be ever let go. They could sell their knowledge on Shinra for hundreds of thousands of gil. No possible security leak like that would be allowed to just walk away. 

“How much do you trust Reno and Rude?”

“Implicitly,” Tseng said without hesitation. Whatever else could be said about the two men, he’d never questioned their loyalty. 

“What about you?”

Raising an eyebrow, Tseng glanced at Rufus. “What about me?”

“You could be the traitor.”

“I could be. But why would I be here then? Or most importantly, why would you still be alive?”

Rufus snorted. “Like you could take me.”

“I could.”

That wasn’t quite true. He most likely would manage to overpower Rufus and kill him but not without serious risk of endangering himself, unless he’d poison Rufus or kill him in his sleep. 

“Somebody is awfully sure of himself.” 

They reached the stairs their landlady had told them about. The wooden steps were narrow and snaked their way through some underbrush but they looked safe enough. Stopping just before them, Tseng stepped aside and gestured for Rufus to go ahead. 

He followed a few steps behind but not without checking if anyone was following them. 

Things had been quiet since they’d arrived and it was unlikely that someone would look for them in Mideel of all places but he preferred to be safe rather than sorry. He was prepared to give his life for Rufus’ without hesitation but he didn’t mind being alive either. 

“What if we just returned to Midgar? If it was my old man, I doubt he’d shoot me on the steps of the HQ.” Remembering something, Rufus halted and looked back up at Tseng. “How’s the injury?”

“It’s fine.”

The assassin had managed to fire three bullets before she could be stopped. The first had missed Rufus’ shoulder by a breath, the second had grazed Rude’s left upper arm who’d pulled Rufus aside almost immediately and the third had hit Tseng in the side as he’d stepped in front of Rufus. 

It hadn’t hit any organs or bones. A mere flesh wound. It would take some time to heal but it wasn’t anything to worry about. He would’ve preferred for a doctor to take a look but they’d had no time to do so before fleeing to Mideel and since a bullet wound inevitably raised questions, he’d refrained from seeking medical help here. He knew enough about treating a wound to take care of himself. 

He’d been lucky insofar that the bullet had gone in and out again. Removing one was always a hassle and leaving it in would be risking a wound infection. 

If he was honest, he thought the attempt on Rufus’ life had been half-hearted at best, considering how close she’d gotten, that first shot shouldn’t have missed. Of course, he was glad that it had. But the most pressing question for him was actually how she’d managed to get this close undetected. 

Sadly, she’d been gunned down before any questioning could have taken place. And there was only so much that could be gained from a corpse. 

“I think it would be unwise to return until we’ve at least some information on who hired the shooter.”

There was a noise to their left as they reached the bottom of the stairs and Tseng instinctively put his hand on Rufus’ shoulder and stepped in front of him, scanning their surroundings. 

It turned out to just be a bird. 

Their landlady had been right, the beach was almost completely deserted. Only in the distance were a few people walking along the shore. Because of the high overgrown cliff and the time of the day, the beach was already in the shadows but considering how warm it still was, Tseng didn’t mind the lack of sunlight. 

Letting go of Rufus’ shoulder, he slowly followed him down to the beach. He turned around halfway and looked up at the cliff. Maybe he was getting a little paranoid but almost anyone could hide unseen in this thicket. Glancing back at Rufus, he kept half an eye on the greenery. 

It was hard to unwind if you were on the job 24/7. 

And that was no exaggeration. Rufus had an awful as not to say non-existent sleeping pattern. Whereas Tseng usually went to bed at midnight and got up at 5am or 6am at the latest, Rufus would stay up until sometimes long past three in the morning only to sleep until noon. Or get up three or four hours later, only to go back to bed in the afternoon. 

It was a good thing Tseng could live on five to six hours of sleep. At least for a while. 

Only a few steps along the beach and Tseng could already feel the sand filing his shoes. Pursing his lips, he bent down and slipped the espadrilles off. Whoever had invented those shoes was a genius. They were light and pleasant to wear even in hot weather, yet not as casual as flip-flops which, despite being allowed casual clothes, he just couldn’t bring himself to wear. 

He still couldn’t decide if he liked the feeling of sand beneath his feet or not. Seeing as he spent 99% of his time wearing shoes, it was possible his feet just weren’t used to it. At home, well at-home-at-home, meaning his apartment at Shinra HQ, he usually went barefoot but nowhere else. 

Rufus stood by the water, hands pushed into the pockets of his pants, eyes fixed on something on the horizon. Joining him, Tseng stuck the umbrella into the sand and clasped his hands behind his back, letting his gaze wander along the beach. 

It were quiet moments like this when Tseng saw the side of Rufus resurfacing that only he got to see.

Nobody had any illusions that Rufus was in truth a misunderstood, kind-hearted person who would rather raise puppies in a little secluded cottage than finally run his father’s empire. Not even him. But what most didn't see or perhaps didn't even want to see, was that Rufus wasn’t the vapid playboy who enjoyed his life in the lap of luxury without a care in the world. 

Tseng couldn’t say he liked President Shinra but it was a bit of a pity that father and son got along so poorly. Knowing the president as well as he did, however, it came as no surprise. The man wasn’t exactly the fatherly type who had bothered to ever really take the time to pay attention to his son growing up. 

At the tug on his ponytail, Tseng jumped a little and looked at Rufus questioningly. “I’m sorry, did you say something?”

Rufus chuckled. “Not really. You should wear your hair up like that more.”

Tseng wasn’t sure what to say. There was a very specific reason why he wasn’t usually wearing it up anymore and he didn’t feel like revisiting that particular episode in their lives. 

Rufus studied him with a frown. “If Reno and Rude find nothing in the next five days, I’m going back. I’m not such a coward that I’m running from my father. If it really was him, he’ll pay for it.”

Ever since they’d arrived, Tseng had feared something like this might happen. Rufus’ pride wouldn’t allow him to hide, especially not from the president. It felt like defeat. The thing with pride was, it could be restored. A life couldn’t. But he knew there would be no reasoning with Rufus on this. 

So, he only said, “You’re father is very powerful,” already knowing that it wasn’t what Rufus wanted to hear. 

Crossing his arms, Rufus glared at the ocean. “So what do you suggest? Hiding ‘til my father dies of old age?” He scoffed. “Never. Before that happens, I’ll kill him with my own hands. Besides, I have you and therefore the Turks.”

And therein lay the crux. 

“Strictly speaking we work for your father,” Tseng said quietly, he could feel Rufus watching him from the side, maybe wondering if this was the moment in which he’d betray him. 

“If it was my father,,” Rufus began slowly. “You already forfeited your life by helping me.”

Tseng looked out at the ocean. Far in the distance there was still some sunlight reaching the water. At Shinra everyone was disposable once they’d outlived their usefulness or their loyalties had become suspect. Tseng knew that better than most. “I know.”

He thought Rufus would be setting him an ultimatum, maybe killing him himself but what Rufus said next, he hadn’t seen coming. 

“I saved you before. I can do it again.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had to adjust the chapter count again. xD But five chapters should definitely finish this story off. 
> 
> As you might've noticed in the first chapter already, I've so far avoided the use of healing materia. The reason for that is mostly just because I like my men injured sometimes. xD There will be materia usage at some point but for now I'm just gonna explain it away with them not having managed to pack any, ahem. 
> 
> Ah yes, and even though Reno is calling Rufus 'boss' in the Remake, I've decided for him to call Tseng that too. What can I say, Tseng is his superior and I like it. 
> 
> Not sure if I should also tag 'hurt and comfort' because Tseng's a little hurt by what he had to do but I'm torn between 'This is literally your job description, suck it up' and 'I didn't mean that, baby, c'mere I'll kiss it better'. xD
> 
> Thanks everyone for the lovely comments and kudos! :D Hope you'll continue to enjoy the story!

Tseng sat reading in an armchair by the open terrace door while absentmindedly petting the cat on his lap. He very pointedly ignored the recurring sighs from the sofa, where Rufus lay sprawled out.

“You know, you’re paying more attention to the cat than to me.”

Tseng raised an eyebrow without looking up, not wanting to lose the line he was currently on. “You want to sit on my lap and get petted?” He regretted his words, the moment they had left his mouth and stared at Rufus with growing trepidation. 

The glint in Rufus’ eyes was positively unnerving. “What an intriguing offer. Let me get back to you.”

“Please don’t,” Tseng muttered under his breath. What had he been thinking? Or rather, why hadn’t he tried thinking before opening his mouth? There was no concentrating on his book now. Putting it aside, he frowned at the cat in his lap that was still purring contently.

This casual ‘work atmosphere’ was doing his head in. Maybe returning to Midgar in five days, like Rufus demanded, wouldn’t be such a bad idea after all. He certainly wouldn’t mind being back in his office, in his uniform and with a little more distance from Rufus Shinra.

In fact, a lot more distance would be just the thing.

The cat rolled onto its back and looked up at Tseng expectantly.

There was a snort from the sofa. 

Tseng pinched the bridge of his nose.

By some divine intervention, his phone started vibrating on the coffee table, saving him from contemplating his poor choice of words any further. It was Reno’s number. Answering, Tseng gently pushed the cat off his lap and stood.

“Yo, boss.” Reno sounded cheerful which hopefully meant he’d found something.

“Any progress?”

“Yup, you’re gonna love this.”

He had a feeling he wouldn’t. “What did you find?”

“The hit on the VP? Might’ve been Heidegger all by his lonesome.”

Tseng looked at Rufus who’d gotten up and came walking over. “How sure are we?”

“We’re still checking a few other leads but it’s looking pretty good. He hired someone external through a couple of middle men, and I don’t wanna compliment the fat windbag, but he was actually smart about it for once. Well, smart by Heidegger’s standards.”

“So that’s how the shooter got so close.” It made sense. Why hadn’t he thought of this earlier? 

“Yeah, all the security personnel that day, apart from us, was provided by Heidegger. One word from him and she would’ve slipped through without a hitch.”

“And we’re sure the President wasn’t involved?”

Rufus crossed his arms and watched him with a frown.

“Nah, the old man-“

“ _Reno_ ,” Tseng said tersely.

“Fine, fine. El presidente seems genuinely concerned about the VP.” Reno suddenly laughed. “I almost forgot, Heidegger tried to pin the whole thing on you! The fucking balls on that guy. Saying shit like you’ve abducted the VP and how you need to be executed and then fired, in that order.”

That sounded promising. “And the President?”

“Actually shut his horse laugh down for once, if you can believe it.”

“Please work on your diction.” He suddenly regretted not leaving the room but with the mission concerning Rufus so implicitly, he would’ve been hard-pressed to justify not having him listen in on the call.

“Jeez, boss, let me have some fun on the job, alright? What are you doing anyway? Lounging at the beach, drinking cocktails?”

“You know I don’t drink.”

“Yeah, you really need to loosen up. Have some fun.”

Tseng looked at the ceiling in exasperation and ignored Rufus’ chuckle. “Is there any more relevant info forthcoming?”

“Nah, we should be able to sort out the last few leads and dig up some solid evidence against Heidegger in a day or so. I’ll keep you posted.”

“Alright, good work, Reno.”

“Whoa? What’s that?”

“Excuse me?”

“Was that praise? From you? I’m feeling all warm inside.”

Tseng sighed inwardly. “My mistake.”

“No, no, no. You should do that more often, you know. Showing you’ve got a soft side.”

“I’m hanging up now.”

Before Reno could go on, Tseng ended the call and pinched the bridge of his nose. “So… the trail is leading to Heidegger.”

Rufus nodded and started pacing around the room slowly. “What did Reno call him? Fat windbag? I like it.”

Tseng didn’t comment.

“You know, I’ll accept nothing less than a public execution. This couldn’t be more perfect. He’s my father’s strongest supporter and happens to hate my guts. And he’s literally just presented us with an opportunity to get rid of him.”

“We’ll have to wait for Reno and Rude to find evidence that will irrefutably link Heidegger to the assassination attempt first though.” Tseng placed the phone back on the coffee table. Heidegger was a crude idiot but he was no pushover. If they underestimated him, the whole thing could still backfire spectacularly. “Something he can’t wriggle his way out of.”

“What did he hope to accomplish by killing me?” Rufus tapped a finger against his chin. “My father has no other legitimate children and there’s no chance in hell he’d hand the company over to one of his bastards.” Rufus frowned. 

“There might be something we’re not yet aware of.”

“I wonder.” Rufus pursed his lips in thought. “You know, there’s a rumour that my old man got it on with Heidegger’s wife?”

Tseng sniffed. He had heard the rumour, like most other rumours floating around HQ, but it had sounded so outrageous, especially considering on what good terms the President and Heidegger were, that he had never paid it much mind. “I have.”

“If one of his sons is actually my father’s bastard…”

“It would certainly be a compelling motive.”

“Half the time, we wouldn’t be in such a mess if my father had learned not to stick his dick into everything that struck his fancy.” Rufus rolled his eyes and threw himself back onto the sofa. “But _I’m_ the playboy.”

Tseng shook his head with a chuckle. “To be fair, you never shut anybody up about it.”

“That one time he had me stand in front of the whole board of directors with that woman I’d never seen before, expecting some sort of apology.” Stretching out on the sofa, Rufus let his head fall back against the armrest with a laugh. “It was pretty damn funny. Especially when I could prove that I wasn’t even in town during the time of the supposed conception.” 

“The President wasn’t pleased.”

“You can say that again.” Rufus crossed his arms, sobering. “I can’t wait to take Heidegger down.”

“It would mean a vacancy on the director’s board,” Tseng pointed out. “With Heidegger’s attempt on your life, your father might feel the need to make amends and-“

“Consider my proposal for a replacement.” Rufus’ lips curled into a deep smile.

“We should be careful though. Heidegger must know that we’re looking into the incident or he wouldn’t be so adamant about my… dismissal.”

“I told you. Nobody can touch you if I won’t let them.”

Tseng shook his head. “That’s not what I mean. We can’t have him destroying the evidence we still need.”

\----------------------------------------------------------------

Tseng woke with a start and the almost immediate feeling that somebody was in the flat who shouldn’t be. Listening to the silence for a few moments, he picked up on slow, deliberate footsteps that weren’t Rufus’.

He drew the gun from under his pillow, thought better of it and took a few small throwing knives from the drawer of his bed stand as well. It might just be a burglar that needed to be scared off, killing them with a headshot would draw more attention than they needed. Although he could always make it look like some messy altercation.

Rising from the bed, Tseng saw the open terrace door and groaned inwardly. He’d politely yet firmly reminded Rufus to close and lock all doors and windows before going to bed. What had possessed him to entrust their safety to the VP who was used to having bodyguards and assorted security personnel about him at all times?

He must be losing his touch.

If either of them, though preferably Rufus, or both survived this, he’d never make this mistake again. He shouldn’t have made it in the first place but it had been two in the morning and Rufus still hadn’t looked like he’d be going to bed anytime soon and Tseng had just been really tired.

It was no excuse. This was his fault.

Upon reaching the door to the living room, the empty sofa didn’t fill him with hope. Had Rufus actually gone to bed and left everything open and unlocked?

The carelessness just beggared belief.

Creeping down the hallway, Tseng heard shuffling from Rufus’ bedroom and instinctively reached for his gun. He’d rather deal with a corpse that needed to be disposed of than a dead VP.

Tseng pushed the door open and found a stranger, who very much looked like an ordinary burglar, sitting behind Rufus on the bed. But instead of holding a knife or gun to his head or throat respectively there were two cords or cables – it was hard to tell in the semi-darkness – wrapped around Rufus’ neck with the burglar clutching the ends like a lifeline. 

Rufus looked so angry it was almost comical.

Remaining at the door, Tseng didn’t move. “Let him go.”

Whatever it was the burglar had hoped to find in their flat, this very obviously wasn’t it. He was very terrified and very young. Tseng vaguely recalled that on Mideel burglaries committed while in possession of a firearm or thrust weapon were punishable by the death. So the otherwise rather unusual strangulation device made sense. 

The open terrace door must’ve been too tempting to pass up on. If they got out of this alive, he’d have to have a very stern word with Rufus when in truth, he would’ve strangled anyone else for making such a basic mistake.

The burglar said something that was unintelligible due to his panic.

“Just let him go. We’ll let you leave.” He hoped to high heaven that Rufus would keep his mouth shut because he was glaring daggers at Tseng.

“You’re lying!” The boy shouted, pulling at the cords and making Rufus grimace.

Tseng shifted. A shot carried too much risk of hitting Rufus. The same went for the knife.

“Don’t move or I’ll strangle him!”

Lowering the gun, Tseng tried to relax his stance. “Listen. If you strangle him, there will be nothing stopping me from shooting you. I don’t care what you came in here to steal. You made a mistake, we’ll let you go but only if you give up now.”

The boy hesitated, visibly torn between believing Tseng or staying in the spot he deemed safe.

It was Rufus who broke the stalemate by slamming his elbow into the boy’s chin, who fell backwards with a cry of pain but not without, inevitably, pulling the cords around Rufus’ neck taunt.

Tseng grabbed the boy before he could make a run for it and knocked him unconscious before hurrying to Rufus’ side who had started coughing and frantically pulling at the cords around his neck. He batted Rufus’ hands away. “Hold still. You’re making it worse.”

The insult meant for him, came out as a croak.

Tseng frowned at the cords. They had cut into Rufus’ neck but not deep enough to cause any serious damage which was a relief. That man had more luck than judgement. He carefully removed the cords and scrutinised the injuries. The cuts were shallow and would bruise rather than bleed. 

Despite getting rid of the restriction, Rufus’ breathing seemed to grow more uneven. 

Tseng looked up at him. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Rufus glared, some colour high on his cheeks. “Just let go, so I can strangle the little-“

Tseng pressed his thumb against Rufus’ windpipe, who choked and kicked his shin. “Sorry, hand slipped.” He stood back up. “I’ll deal with the boy. You stay here.”

Rufus wheezed.

“The injury is nothing serious.”

From the look Rufus gave him, he begged to differ. 

Tseng reached for the glass of water on the nightstand and poured it over the boy’s face who spluttered back to life. He grabbed him by the arm before the boy could dart out the door. 

“You-you promised,” he pleaded.

The boy couldn’t be much older than fifteen.

“The Turks don’t kill children!” 

Tseng froze with a sinking feeling in his stomach. What an odd piece of trivia for a little urchin in Mideel to possess. And it wasn’t even correct. Pressing his lips into a thin line, Tseng turned to Rufus. “Lock all the windows and doors after me. I’ll be back.”

The boy paled visibly. “Please!”

“Be quiet.”

There were better ways to end the night. He dragged the boy into his bedroom and retrieved several scarf-like cloths to first gag and then bind the boy’s wrists behind his back. “Let’s go for a walk.”

The way back to the beach seemed to go on forever. 

In one hand he held his gun with an attached silencer and in his other he pulled the boy along by his upper arm. Whoever had paid the poor kid knew who they were, they would look for evidence if the boy didn’t turn up again. If he made it look like an accident at least none of the local authorities would come knocking on their door. 

There was a bitter taste in his mouth. 

When they reached the cliff on the other side of town, the one where no vegetation would cushion his fall, Tseng untied the boy’s arms before removing the gag. 

The hopeful look in the child’s eyes was turning his stomach. 

“Who paid you to look for us?”

The boy shook his head. “One- one of the boys in the village came to me. Please,” his eyes filled with tears. “He said some- some… two men in uniforms-“

“What uniforms?”

Sobbing, he wiped his nose on his free arm. “I dunno… Jay… Jay said like soldiers… they asked him all sorts of questions and…” Another sob interrupted his story. “And asked if he knew anyone… who was- who was…” 

Tseng was grinding his teeth, his eyes fixed on the horizon. “Go on.”

“Who was good at finding people and… and getting into places. Please… please, I don’t know who you are…”

 _Except they told you about the Turks,_ Tseng thought. That was their mistake and the boy’s for mentioning it. Soldiers though? Who would be dumb enough to sent someone in recognisable Shinra uniforms? 

Heidegger, he realised. 

Heidegger might just be stupid enough to slip up like that. 

“Please, I won’t tell anyone… I’ll…”

 _They’ll come looking for you. And they’ll want answers._ Pushing the gun into the waistband of his pants, he rubbed his eyes. 

“Come here.” Tseng crouched down, pulling the boy close by both arms. “I know you made a mistake today. And I believe you when you say that you won’t talk.”

The boy nodded desperately. 

_But the people who’ll catch you won’t accept that and you’re just a child._

Something about Tseng’s expression must’ve tipped the boy off who started shaking in earnest, a constant stream of ‘please’ and ‘I’m sorry’ leaving his lips. Despite the child’s pitiful display, Tseng knew the cords hadn’t been for show. If it had only been his task to find them, he could’ve made a run for it the moment, he had confirmed their whereabouts. But he hadn’t. That cord had been at Rufus’ throat. 

Straightening back up, Tseng gave the boy a hard shove and pushed him off the cliff. 

He watched him fall, until the darkness swallowed the small body and he heard a thud in the distance. 

Turning away from the cliff, he picked up the two scarfs and walked back to the flat. 

There was no way he could’ve spared the child, but the bile at the back of his throat was still hard to swallow and he couldn’t help the anger that bubbled up inside of him at whoever had sent those soldiers to approach local children. 

It didn’t matter though. There would be no divine retribution or any sort of retribution for that matter. The stupid and hapless would always get underfoot and get trampled in the end. 

Pulling the keys from his pockets as he reached the flat, Tseng hoped Rufus was asleep or at least not in the mood to argue about one thing or another because he was tired and frustrated and he couldn’t take it out on Rufus even if he might deserve it.

If Rufus had locked the doors and windows the boy might not even have gotten inside. 

He shook his head as if to rid himself of the thought. It would get him nowhere to think like this. What happened couldn’t be undone. 

Closing the terrace door quietly, he locked it again and returned to his bedroom, dropping the scarfs and gun and throwing knifes onto his bed. 

It was four in the morning. And he doubted he’d get any sleep that night or what remained of it. 

Before he could check if Rufus was okay, the man already stood in his doorway. Maybe he could tell from his face because Rufus didn’t ask if the boy was dead. 

Tseng felt numb but he was good at going through the motions no matter how he felt. “Let me have a look at your throat. There were some cuts.”

Rufus frowned at him but didn’t say anything. 

Getting the first-aid kit out of his wardrobe, Tseng sat Rufus down on the sofa.

“I’m not mortally wounded.” Rufus’ protest, if it could even be called that, was half-hearted at best. 

“No, but we don’t know were those cords have been. It’ll only take a few minutes.”

Everything seemed fine while he disinfected the cuts and put some cooling gel on them that would help with the healing process and numb possible skin irritations but once he started wrapping a thin layer of gauze around Rufus’ neck he noticed the man’s shallow breathing. 

Had that just started? 

Stilling mid-motion, Tseng frowned. “What’s the matter?”

“Nothing,” Rufus’ breath hitched. “Just finish up already.”

“Is the gauze too tight?” He made to loosen it but Rufus grabbed his hand. 

“I said: just get this over with.”

With the light of the moon and the little lamp on the couch table, it was bright enough for Tseng to notice Rufus’ dilated pupils. Something wasn’t right. An awful suspicion crept up on him. The cords hadn’t been poisoned, had they? He’d touched them and hadn’t noticed any irritations but then he hadn’t sustained any cuts. 

“Are you sure you’re feeling alright?” 

Rufus’ glare didn’t quite reach the intensity he was probably going for. “Just _splendid_. Now if you would just… finish up already.”

_Alright, whatever._

Rufus wasn’t the person to suffer in silence. If anything serious was wrong, he’d let him know in no uncertain terms. Still… As he continued with the gauze, Rufus’ strained intakes of breath became very noticeable and some colour had returned to his cheeks, just like before. 

But the gauze really wasn’t restrictive and… 

_Oh._

_No._

_Surely…_

Tseng ignored the funny flip in his stomach, concentrating instead on wrapping the last bit of gauze around Rufus’ neck, while suddenly overly aware of his every move. Only there was no way of finishing up and securing the gauze without touching Rufus. 

Maybe he was overthinking this. It might be the aftermath of the nightly attack showing its signs. Rufus might just be embarrassed that it had rattled him more than he wanted to admit. 

Tseng kept his eyes carefully trained on his own hands, yet still somehow noticed the way Rufus bit his lip and dug his fingers into his crossed arms. 

Tseng almost breathed a sigh of relief when he was done at last and rose, packing up the first-aid kit and definitely not turning over the implications or… or anything of the situation, over in his head. 

“I’ll go to bed. If you need anything, let me know.”


	3. Interlude

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As the title of the chapter suggests, this is an interlude that takes place about three years prior to the main story. 
> 
> It will have some relevance for the main story (obivously) but mostly this was some gratuitous writing for myself because I can't with how bloody adorable Evan Townshend is. For those who don't know: he's the main character of the book "Final Fantasy VII - The Kids Are Alright: A Turks Side Story" by Kazushige Nojima. I've not finished the book, just started it in fact. So what you see here is my interpretation of his character from what I could garner from the wikipage and after reading two pages of the book. Also in the book Evan is nineteen, because this story takes place three years before my story and my story three years before Advent Children (roughly), Evan is thirteen here. 
> 
> And Idk... I kinda wanted to write some of the backstory that will be alluded to in the main story because Evan is so damn cute and I just couldn't. To make this clear, Evan has a bit of a crush on Tseng but from Tseng's side this is entirely platonic. (I mean, the age gap is big and Evan is a minor, so yeah) But Tseng kinda has a soft spot for Evan.

"The source is a boy?"

"Er, yes, boss. Evan Townshend."

The name rang a bell but he couldn’t put his finger on it. 

"We were supposed to look into him anyway."

Tseng pulled up the info they had in the database on Townshend. It was locked behind the highest security clearance. Not that that was an issue for him. But the fact was telling enough. 

"Ah."

Tseng leaned back in his seat, phone still at his ear. „I’ll look into it myself.“

There was a moment of silence on the other end. „Uh… you sure, boss?“

"Yes. Send over your report."

He hung up and frowned at the screen.

The resemblance was uncanny. The same blue eyes, the blonde hair was a little darker but even the facial features were similar if not the same. The biggest difference was the expression in the boy’s eyes. Shy and confused. 

Evan Townshend. 

One of the President’s illegitimate sons. 

Unlike Lazard, who’d only had the blonde hair, Townshend’s connection to the family was almost impossible to deny. He was thirteen and lived with his mother in Sector 6. 

Tseng scrolled though the info they had on the boy. 

He was a child by the President’s old secretary Annette Townshend. 

After the pregnancy was discovered and the father determined, she’d been quietly sequestered away in a, if not lavish, adequate house in Sector 6. They kept tabs on the mother and son for obvious reasons but up until now he’d not been involved in that task himself. 

Tapping a finger on the desk, he clicked through the photos of the security cameras around the house. 

It was almost like looking at a young Rufus if not for the slight difference in looks and the fact that Evan was nothing like Rufus. Apparently trouble kept finding him more often than not. 

There had been several trips to the hospital because he had gotten roughed up by various teenage gangs. A heart surgery as a child due to a weak heart but that seemed to have solved the issue. And his mother appeared to be, probably not without reason, a little overprotective. 

He now remembered why the name had rung a bell. 

Veld had mentioned the Townshend boy a few years back and how he’d been the one illegitimate child that President Shinra had thought about legitimizing, mostly because the whole thing had happened during a time when the President had genuinely considered replacing Rufus as the heir due to their – more than usually – strained relationship. 

Very few people knew about it and Veld had only ever told him about it because at the time it became clear that Tseng would eventually succeed him as the leader of the Turks. And while taking this sort of information to the grave might have been an option elsewhere, it wasn’t here. Because the files were in the database and something like this resurfacing without the leader of the Turks being prepared for it, didn’t bear thinking about. 

Veld had made it clear, though it had been obvious, that this information could never see the light of day and had to be kept from Rufus especially. No child, no matter how terrible their relationship with their parents was, wanted to hear about said parents planning to replace them. That the President had never gone through with it would often soften the blow so much.

Saving the address of the Townshend’s in his phone, Tseng closed the files and shut down his computer. 

Time to pay Evan Townshend a visit. 

\--------------------------------------------------------

Tseng stopped his black sports car at the curb, watching the house for a few minutes through the tinted windows before getting out and locking the car. He pushed his hands into the pocket of his pants, standing on the sidewalk for a little longer as he took in the neighbourhood and front yard. 

There were footsteps behind him. 

“Holy shit, is that your car?”

Tseng turned around and saw the boy faltering. 

There he was. Evan Townshend. He looked even smaller than in the photos but the resemblance really was uncanny. It gave Tseng double vision for a moment. If that boy ever pushed some sort of claim, just looking at his face would be enough to determine the parentage. 

Tseng gave him a perfunctory smile. “You must be Evan.”

The boy paled a little. “Um… am I in trouble?”

“I don’t know. Did you do anything to get yourself in trouble?”

At this, Evan flushed and ducked his head. His hair was a little longer than Rufus’ and a lot more mussed. “I don’t think so?” he offered meekly. 

It was almost adorable. “I heard you have some info for Shinra.” There was nobody but them on the street but Tseng still preferred to continue this conversation in private and considering what he knew of the surveillance of the house, it wasn’t a location he’d choose. 

Evan’s eyes widened. “Oh… yeah. I...” His gaze strayed to the house. 

“I’m assuming you didn’t tell your mother about getting in touch?”

The answer was plain on the boy’s face. 

“When is she expecting you back at the house?”

Evan checked his phone. “Not for another hour. Um… there’s a coffee shop down the road.”

“No.” Tseng shook his head. “Get in the car. We’re going for a drive.”

Evan stared at the car again, plainly conflicted about whether to trust Tseng or not. 

“Your mother teach you not to go with strange men?” Tseng couldn’t hide his smile. 

“Something like that,” Evan mumbled. “But it’s okay. I’ll come.”

 _He’s much too trusting_ , Tseng thought with a frown. Looking back at the house, he thought he saw a figure by the window as he opened the car door for Evan. Closing it slowly, he inclined his head towards the person he was sure to be Evan’s mother. He’d met ‘Anni’ a few times, back when she was still the President’s personal secretary but he didn’t know if she’d remember him. 

Either way, she’d understand what this was. She wouldn’t stop him. 

Sliding into the driver’s seat, Tseng noted Evan looking around the car with big eyes and chuckled. He started up the car. It was quiet despite it very much having a sports car engine but Tseng had gotten it modified. He didn’t feel like announcing his presence to all and sundry from ten miles away. 

There weren’t many things he indulged in but a suitable car had been one of them. 

“Er… who are you?” 

_Bit late to notice that, isn’t it?_ The boy’s gullibility worried him a little. “Tseng. Of the Turks.”

“Oh.” Evan clenched his hands in his lap. 

“You have nothing to worry about. One of us was going to drop by to talk to you about the info you said you had. Is this the first time you got in contact about such a thing?” It obviously was but he was trying to make conversation to ease the boy’s anxiety. 

“Yeah… I overheard something at my mum’s bar. Friends… um, some guys I know said Shinra pays well for information. Mum forbid me to get in touch but...” He fell silent, looking guilty. 

“Does your mother have money troubles?” She shouldn’t have. 

They turned onto one of Shinra’s many motorways. He wasn’t really planning on going anywhere specific. They’d drive around until he had all the information Evan could give him after which he’d return him to his mother. At least in his car he knew they were safe from being overheard or taped. 

“No.” Evan fidgeted. “But I thought if the information was really important and… I dunno… Shinra’s everywhere. It was… kinda cool...”

Tseng couldn’t say he hadn’t expected as much but from the missive the boy had sent in, the info actually seemed to have some value. “Let me be clear here, Evan. You won’t mention this to anyone. Understand?”

Evan flushed again. “Sure. Sorry.”

The difference between him and Rufus, apart from the age, couldn’t be bigger. He was almost painfully shy. Tseng really had no idea how Evan had scraped together the courage to even sent off the missive. 

“Tell me what you know.”

He let the boy talk uninterrupted, only nodding or humming at the appropriate times. The information was even better than he would’ve expected. They’d been digging around for months for this and here was this boy being dropped into his lap with everything they needed. It hadn’t been a waste of his time to come all the way out here personally after all. 

Not that he had expected it to be, since he would’ve had a look at Evan Townshend sooner or later in any case. Killing two birds with one stone made this even more worth his while. 

The last source he’d monitored personally had to be taken off the roster after an unfortunate incident of leaked info, so he could even justify taking over Evan’s case if he wanted to. 

“I hope that was… helpful?”

Tseng glanced over at him. “It was. Don’t go out looking for this sort of stuff though, alright?”

“Can anyone join the Turks?”

“Well, no.”

“Could I? You know… not now, but...” Evan looked out the passenger’s window, chewing his lower lip. 

“You’re thirteen, Evan. Maybe look into a few other career options first.”

“Why?”

“What do you think we do?”

Evan shrugged. “I dunno… spy stuff? You look like you sit in bars with pretty women and rough up some guys who cause trouble.”

Tseng actually had to laugh at that. “Yeah, I’m afraid that’s the exception rather than the rule.”

“So it’s dangerous.”

“Yes.”

“But you’re good, right?”

Tseng raised his eyebrows slightly but didn’t take his eyes off the road. “I’d like to think so, yes.”

“Are you one of the best?”

“I’m the leader.”

“Oh, wow.” Evan stared at his hands in his lap. “I hope coming out here wasn’t a waste of your time.”

“It wasn’t.” He glanced over at the boy and couldn’t help feeling amused. “I heard you have a knack for getting in trouble.”

“Where did you hear that?” Evan looked at him surreptitiously, then seemed to realise the futility of his question. “Ah… nevermind. Stupid question…”

Tseng grabbed a little card from the central console and held it out to Evan between middle and index finger. “That’s my number. Memorize it by the time I drop you off at home. Don’t save it anywhere.”

Evan stared at the card. 

“Call me when you’re in trouble. Only if it’s serious though.”

Evan flushed and nodded. “Why do you wanna help me?”

Tseng only smiled at him. 

Evan ducked his head again. “Well, uh… thanks, I guess.”

Pulling up at the curb in front of Evan’s house again, the boy jumped a little in surprise. 

“You got the number?” 

“Yeah.”

Tseng held his hand out for the card. “Take care, Evan.”

Fumbling with his seat belt, his ears a bright pink, Evan said, “You too. Um… be careful, you know… when it gets dangerous.”

Tseng chuckled. “I will be.”

He waited until he saw Evan vanish in the house before pulling away from the curb. 

Whatever he had expected Evan Townshend to be, this hadn’t been it. He’d a feeling they would see each other again, he only hoped it wouldn’t be when they dragged the boy’s dead body out of some alley.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, this took awhile. As you've probably noticed I deleted chapter 4 and reworked it completely. My brain wouldn't leave me alone with the reminder that it can't accept sex without a hundred pages built-up... *facepalm* 
> 
> But I'm happy how the change turned out. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy. :)

Try as he might, Tseng couldn’t fall asleep again.

Instead he kept turning the events in Junon over in his head. It had been one of many planned public appearances Rufus was supposed to put in to represent Shinra. Nothing unusual. Especially since the President had reinstated him as his heir and named him vice president.

The rule was that whenever Rufus appeared publicly at least one Turk would be by his side. Most of the time this was Tseng but occasionally he sent Reno and Rude if he was occupied elsewhere. 

Only this time, the curt but clear order that the Turks weren’t needed had reached his desk. The info hadn’t come directly from Rufus either, which had tipped Tseng off. Still more out of routine than anything else, he’d reviewed the security detail for the appearance, only to have a small post-it note fall out of the paperwork that read ‚no Turks‘.

It hadn’t been Rufus‘ handwriting.

He’d still had the note in his pocket when they’d escaped to Mideel and had sent a photo of it to Reno for him to cross-reference the handwriting. It had led them to a small grunt quite far down the ladder who’d gotten the order from a superior and up and up it went, until the trail went dead. 

After he’d found the note, he tried reaching Rufus to no avail which in the end had led to him, Reno and Rude flying to Junon without orders. He’d only really taken Reno and Rude along to drop them off, so he could return to Midgar afterwards because he’d actually been in the middle of coordinating another job. But once they’d shown up at Rufus’ apartment only to be received with an impatient ‘you’re late’, his initially minor misgivings had turned into actual concern that something wasn’t right. 

He hadn’t had time to discuss any ‘no Turks’ order Rufus might or might not have given at the time but once they were on their way to Mideel it had become clear that somebody else had altered the security detail without Rufus’ knowledge. 

And suddenly Tseng realised that the shooter’s attempt maybe hadn’t been half-hearted at all. She hadn’t expected them to be there and the sudden Turk presence, three of them no less, must’ve derailed her plans and caused her to fire haphazardly when otherwise there should’ve been no way for her to miss Rufus. 

Tseng sat up with a groan.

Had the evidence been staring him in the face this entire time?

He had to get out of bed.

They should’ve looked into Heidegger’s involvement much earlier. Coordinating this investigation from the distance was turning into a chore. Without all the evidence relevant or otherwise on hand, he couldn’t help feeling like he was missing something. 

But he couldn’t return to Midgar and leave Rufus behind alone or have Reno step in to take over ‘guard duty’. As things stood, Tseng might even be detained on his arrival at HQ, so returning would get him nowhere fast. 

If only he had sent either Reno or Rude with Rufus from the start. Then again, he couldn’t picture himself doing that, not even in hindsight, not after he’d had the hunch that this attempt might’ve been an insight job. He had no reservations about Reno’s or Rude’s abilities but when it came to the VP’s well-being, he knew if something were to happen to Rufus, he wouldn’t forgive himself if he’d been aware of a danger and hadn’t gone to ensure the VP’s safety himself. 

It was quite irrational because he knew he couldn’t be by Rufus’ side at all times. And yet. 

Rubbing a hand over his face, he walked over to the window and crossed his arms, drumming his fingers on his upper arms. 

Heidegger might be stupid but he was also powerful and his men wouldn’t easily cross him, if only out of fear. Fear was a more powerful deterrent than most people realised. Only dangling some hope of escape with impunity before someone usually wasn’t enough to have them crack. 

And who knew if Heidegger was working alone. 

It was growing light on the horizon.

There was only so long they could evade Shinra’s sniffer dogs. Some of them were on the island already and once the boy turned up dead, no matter if it looked like an accident or not, they’d continue looking. Maybe they needed to move again but that in itself contained risks too. 

It had been Tseng’s idea to retreat to Mideel, mostly because the island didn’t have a mako reactor and consequently a very small Shinra presence but the rural structures of Mideel that in part worked in their favour also had their downsides, especially because a lot of technical achievements that were available in Midgar and Junon, just hadn’t reached the small island yet. 

At the sound of footsteps, Tseng glanced over his shoulder. He hadn’t expected Rufus to still be awake. Something was bothering him, Tseng could tell from his expression. 

“What’s wrong?”

Rufus leaned his shoulder against the wall next to Tseng, folding his arms. How did someone manage to look even more attractive with a bandage around their neck? “I forgot to close the terrace door.” 

Tseng raised an eyebrow. If he’d been expecting something, this wasn’t it.

“You’re angry.” It wasn’t a question. 

Tseng sighed. “I was. A little.” 

A lot, actually, but this was Rufus Shinra he was talking to and his reply already felt like he was walking a fine line. He knew, he had more leeway with Rufus than anyone else but because one thing always let to another, he tried to avoid slipping into too much familiarity whenever possible. This, however, had been severely put to the test since they’d arrived in Mideel. 

“But your safety is my responsibility, I shouldn’t have gone to bed without making sure everything was secure.”

“I’m not a toddler.” Rufus rolled his eyes. “I’m capable of some things.”

Tseng gave him a meaningful look. “It wasn’t just the door that was open.”

“Shut up,” Rufus tried to scowl but the effect was ruined by his laugh. “I’m trying to apologise without actually apologising.”

“I noticed.” Tseng couldn’t quite hide his smile. “How is that working out for you?”

“You know, now that I think about it, you actually get paid to make sure the doors and windows are locked. This was definitely your fault.”

“Oh, I agree. I can’t fault you for forgetting something, you never had to think of before. It was clearly my mistake.” He couldn’t keep the amusement out of his voice. 

“On the surface this might sound like you’re blaming yourself but the backhanded way by which you’re calling me an idiot, is more infuriating than you actually calling me an idiot.”

Tseng chuckled.

After a moment, Rufus sobered. “How sure are we that my father isn’t behind the attempt after all?”

“Well… the evidence we have, though I’m reluctant to call it that, could point to either one,” Tseng said, knowing it wasn’t what Rufus wanted to hear but then he’d never made a habit of telling him anything but his honest opinion. 

Rufus was quiet for a long moment before he said, “If someone really wanted me dead and the evidence speaks very much for itself. There is one sure-fire way to accomplish that.”

Tseng had a feeling he wouldn’t like what Rufus said next.

“They’d just have to go through you.”

“Sir-”

Rufus scowled. “Don’t ‘sir’ me. You know, I’m right. I’m wary of everyone. Hell, I don’t even put it past my own father to kill me. But you... I don’t question your loyalty. And I feel like I should… but I can’t. I trust you.”

Tseng hated it when Rufus got into one of his moods. It happened rarely enough but it never failed to put him on edge and make him worry of what might happen when the day came when he wasn’t around. Rufus wasn’t some helpless fool, he could fend for himself if necessary. But how do you defend yourself against something you didn’t even see coming? 

The sporadic attacks by Avalanche or other Shinra detractors were, if not less dangerous, something they were expecting and hence prepared for. But within Shinra so much politicking and backstabbing was happening that you’d be a fool to trust someone completely. 

Which was why Tseng knew how much Rufus’ words meant and how dangerous they were at the same time.

Trusting someone wasn’t something they could afford. Not in the world they lived in. Where empty promises were a daily occurrence and where people would smile into your face even as they twisted the knife in deeper.

“Never betray me.”

Tseng held his gaze. “You know I won’t.”

Shaking his head slowly, Rufus said, “If you do-“

“Don’t-“

Before Tseng could say anything else, Rufus had pushed off the wall and stepped up to him. They were so close, Tseng could feel Rufus’ breath on his lips. He held still as the other man scrutinised him as if he was looking at something he couldn’t make sense of.

“If you ever betray me, you better make sure you get it right because I don’t want to be able to walk away from it.”

The implication felt like a punch to the gut. Tseng’s nostrils flared as his face hardened. “I won’t betray you. You know that.”

“I do, but everyone has a price and… I shouldn’t just believe you.” Rufus let his head drop against Tseng’s shoulder, making him stiffen involuntarily. “I’m in the worst mood.”

Tseng closed his eyes. “I wouldn’t have noticed.” He could feel Rufus chuckle, the small puff of air against the side of his neck. “You should go to bed.”

“Can’t sleep. I tried.”

The hand on his waist, just above his gunshot wound, made him flinch.

“How often have you saved my life already?”

A strained smile ghosted over Tseng’s lips. “I don’t know.” 

Rufus exhaled slowly, the warm breath against his collarbone gave Tseng goose bumps. Sometimes he couldn’t stand being this close to Rufus. Especially in moments like this when whatever boundaries that should’ve been between them had become so blurred that Tseng had a hard time remembering why he needed to keep his distance. 

“Why wouldn’t you betray me?” 

Clenching and unclenching his hands, Tseng reached up and hesitantly placed a hand on Rufus’ arm. “C’mon, let’s stop this.” He didn’t want to be hard-hearted or dismissive with Rufus but he knew half the time there was just no talking to him when he got like this and Tseng could do without hearing more things that felt like somebody was reaching in and twisting his heart. “If you’re not going to bed, I’m going to make some tea or-”

Rufus straightened up with a grimace. “No green tea, that’s disgusting.”

Tseng raised an eyebrow. “Only because you don’t know how to prepare it.”

“I tried to. Once.”

Tseng chuckled and let go of Rufus. “Yeah, I’m not sure if that was green tea though.”

“Very funny.” 

“It really wasn’t because I had to drink it.” 

“What’s so difficult about making tea?” Rufus followed him into the kitchen.

Tseng laughed. “You know, that’s exactly the question I asked myself when presented with whatever you had brewed that day.”

Crisis averted or so he hoped. 

“There’s no practical reason for why I would need to know this.”

Grabbing two mugs from the shelf, Tseng placed them on the counter and filled the kettle with water. “It can’t hurt knowing a few basic things on how to stay alive.”

“Boiling water? I have people for this.”

Tseng raised his eyebrows at Rufus. “I’m not your cook.”

“It’s your job to keep me alive.”

“Oh, I think you underestimate on how little one can survive.” 

Rufus leaned his hip against the kitchen counter, scowling. “Don’t even go there. I am not eating leftovers. There is fresh food in the fridge.”

“Uh-huh and who will prepare that?” Putting the kettle on, Tseng leaned against the counter opposite Rufus, crossing his arms. 

“Don’t ask question that you know the answer to.”

“I would say this is what it must be like to care for a child but a child wouldn’t ask for something with truffles or caviar. Because a child wouldn’t know what either of those are.”

Rufus smirked. “I did. As a child.”

“That’s because you were born with silver spoon in your mouth.”

It went on like this, while Tseng made himself a tea and Rufus some coffee. As it turned out Rufus could be very persistent when there was something he wanted, especially with regards to food. And while that shouldn’t have been a problem because Tseng could cook and he didn’t mind it either, the extravagant demands Rufus had half the time, made him glad that this wasn’t usually his responsibility. 

The sun was rising over Mideel as they sat down on the sofa in the living room. Nipping at his tea, Tseng held the mug out to Rufus a moment later. “Try it. It’s not even remotely comparable to-“

“Just shut up about it.” Rufus grabbed the mug and took a sip, face already screwed up before he even had a taste. His expression turned into a slight scowl. “Well… it’s not poisonous, I’ll give you that much.”

Tseng snorted. “You’re incorrigible. Give it back then.”

“No?” 

“I’m not drinking your coffee.”

“And what are you going to do? If we fight over the mug, the tea will very likely spill.” 

Tseng took a deep breath and looked at Rufus calmly, still holding his hand out.

“You think this will work?” 

“I don’t know what you mean, but yes.”

Rufus scoffed before giving the mug back. “Whatever. My coffee is better at any rate.”

This was so easy. Too easy. 

It was perfectly reasonable that they had grown more familiar with each other over the many years Tseng had worked for Rufus but moments like this still tripped him up. When Rufus wasn’t the vice president in immaculate clothes and the sneer on his face, distant and cold, but just a man who in many ways wasn’t something people would expect. 

It was good then that moments like this were so rare because Tseng wouldn’t know what to do with himself otherwise. 

“I’m tired.” Rufus interrupted his thoughts. 

“Then go to bed.”

Instead of doing that, and to Tseng’s great dismay, Rufus grabbed a pillow and dropped it onto Tseng’s lap before stretching out on the sofa and resting his head on the pillow. 

Tseng stared down at him but Rufus only laughed. 

“You offered, remember?”

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Tseng huffed an incredulous laugh. 

Rufus closed his eyes, a smile still tugging at his lips. 

How carelessly beautiful he was. Tseng couldn’t help studying him. 

The long lashes as blonde as his hair and the bow shaped lips. Tseng had spent too much time looking at Rufus in his life. No matter how close they seemed now, he knew they were worlds apart. 

Even if Rufus wasn’t the playboy most people made him out to be, he could have whoever he wanted and realistically it would be some gorgeous woman who stood by his side one day. He remembered Lizzy and how many at the time had thought Rufus might propose to her. There never had been any such plans but Tseng knew he’d wondered the same as everyone else. 

They had looked like a couple from the lifestyle magazines. Rich and beautiful, the world at their feet. 

Lizzy had been a model, long black hair, longer legs and amber eyes. Almost everyone had been in love with her to some extent. He certainly remembered most of his colleagues throwing her wistful glances whenever she dropped by HQ. 

Funnily, it was how the vapid playboy image of the media had come about. He recalled the photos in the tabloid papers of them stumbling out of a bar one night when they’d just started dating. 

Half the people of Midgar loved them, the other hated had them but everyone wanted to be them. 

What Tseng had liked about Lizzy was how she’d never bought into Rufus’ bullshit. She’d probably loved him but she’d never been blind to who or what he was and maybe that was why they had stayed together as long as they had. 

It was she who had broken up with Rufus in the end, though very few knew that. 

Tseng had had the misfortune of overhearing their argument if it could be called that. Lizzy was too smart to get upset with Rufus. She’d told him head on that he needed ambitions of his own that went beyond getting one up on his father. He hadn’t heard Rufus’ reply but it must’ve smarted. 

Grabbing his unfinished book from the coffee table, he flipped through it listlessly for a while before finding the page he’d stopped at. There was no point ruminating over who Rufus would end up with one day. It certainly was none of his business. 

Tseng jumped when he felt a tug on his hair and looked down. 

Rufus had reached for a strand of his hair and twisted it around his finger, his look thoughtful.

„Do you remember Lizzy?“

Tseng hummed in affirmation, a little surprised how they’d both thought of her. 

Rufus raised his eyebrows. “Had a crush on her as well?”

“No. But I liked her.”

“She had your hair. Well,” Rufus frowned. “Not quite.”

The comment took him off guard. “Did you love her?”

Rufus let the strand of hair untwist from his finger, before twisting it back around with a contemplative expression before shaking his head. “No. But then neither did she. What was it she always said? Ah yeah, only fools fall in love.”

Tseng‘s phone vibrated, he answered that call. 

“Reno, what is it?”

“Heh, knew you’d be awake, boss. I need to run something by you, how much time do you have?”

_More than you know._

“Enough. What is it?” 

Rufus let go of his hair and closed his eyes again, a small frown tugging at his brows. 

“We have some recordings that… er, strictly speaking we shouldn’t have. But we need to go through them asap. Only it’s like seven something hours long.”

“I can do it.” He had literally nothing better to do. 

“Great. I’ll sent you the audio files now. They’re encrypted. Codes’ll follow in a sec.”

“What are we looking for?” 

“We got everything on the shooter and two of the middle men. We’re looking for the third and who contacted him from within Shinra. Also, uh… we got a hold of some private conversations between the President and Heidegger.”

“I don’t even want to know.” He did but there would be time for that later. 

“Probably best.”

Tseng looked down at Rufus. A strand of hair had fallen across his forehead and without thinking, he reached out and pushed it aside. His hand froze mid-motion when he realised what he was doing. 

“Don’t stop.” Rufus didn’t open his eyes. 

For a moment, Tseng had a hard time paying attention to what Reno was saying. 

“Er, where’s the VP?”

“Asleep.” He still hadn’t moved his hand. 

“Huh, okay.” He could practically see Reno’s shrug. “Well, we still have to head out to Sector 6 for one more lead and I thought I’d be stuck in here, listening to all this stuff. I hate sifting through security recordings.”

“So you pawned it off on me.” 

“Eh, sorry.”

“I don’t mind. I’ll get in touch if I find anything.” He ran his hand through Rufus’ hair, wondering what the hell he was doing. 

“Righto. Thanks, boss.”

Sighing, Tseng dropped the phone onto the coffee table. It would take some time until Reno sent over all the files and for them to download too. 

“What do you have to do?” Rufus asked, eyes still closed. 

“Listening to some audio files. Seven plus hours. We’re looking for the figurative needle in the haystack.” Tseng tried to think about work but the brush of Rufus’ hair against his fingers made it difficult to think period. With Mideel’s constant sunshine it looked like Rufus’ hair colour had grown even paler. 

He drew his hand back as his phone vibrated from the stream of files Reno had sent. 

Opening his eyes, Rufus sat up. “Well, I’m taking a shower. Want to come?” 

Tseng chose to ignore the question. 

With a chuckle, Rufus rose from the sofa and vanished into the bathroom. 

Tseng ran a hand over his face. Once they were back in Midgar none of this would happen again and it’d be a lot easier for him to remember his place. Or so he hoped. 

A thought occurred to him that gave him pause and he wondered if reminding Rufus would be silly but after last night, his faith in Rufus’ reliability and prudence had diminished quite substantially. 

And that was how he found himself standing in front of the bathroom door moments later, knocking. 

“What? Changed your mind?”

Tseng sighed inwardly. “Don’t forget to take the gauze off _before_ going into the shower.”

“You want to make sure I don’t forget?”

Walking away, Tseng called, “I’m sure you’ll rise to the challenge.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, the Evan in my story is quite different to the "original" it turns out. I liked the book!Evan at first and then it went downhill from there. lol But why am I a writer if not to make up stuff to suit my fancy. 
> 
> Many thanks to **Nemi_Almasy** for betaing this chapter! <3

It was just past noon and they were down to recording number 63 of 152.

Tseng sat on the couch, balancing the ankle of one leg on the knee of the other while Rufus had given up on sitting entirely and had resorted to sprawling in all sorts of positions.

By now they had already listened to countless board meetings, private conversations in various offices and pointless small talk in the hallway. If it weren’t for Rufus’ admittedly funny, yet very distracting commentary that had Tseng listening to some things three times in a row, he was pretty sure they would have been down to recording 30 or less.

At the moment, they were listening to some employees very obviously engaging in things they wouldn’t be engaging in if they had known that they were being recorded.

Rufus laughed. “Gods, who sounds like that?”

Tseng rubbed his eyes as the moaning continued. “Eveline apparently.”

“You know, your job’s a lot more interesting than I thought.”

Ignoring Rufus’ comment, Tseng said, “I would fast-forward but people say surprisingly unexpected things during sex.”

Rufus snorted. “Do they?”

Tseng sighed.

“What was the guy’s name again?”

“Berwick. Michael.”

“Well, whatever Michael is doing, it’s not working for Eveline.”

Tseng raised an eyebrow.

“She’s obviously faking it and not very well either.”

Sliding a little lower on the sofa, Tseng pinched the bridge of his nose, wishing they’d either say something important or just get on with it already. If he had to hear another high-pitched shriek, he’d lose his damn mind. He wondered if the people from the tech department could create a programme that would filter out bits of recordings where nothing was said, with the exception of parts with suspicious sounds like gunshots or something.

“Lizzy was great at faking it.”

Tseng threw him a look.

Rufus laughed. “Shut up.”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“Hell, I don’t know if my ego would recover from such a blow. We dated for almost two years, can you imagine… no wait, I don’t want to.”

Tseng chuckled. “Not to spare your feelings but Lizzy didn’t strike me as a person who’d stick around if she wasn’t satisfied.”

Why were they suddenly talking about Rufus’s sex life?

Rufus eyed him with a grin. “What I was going to say was, that we went into Heidegger’s office once and-“

Burying his face in his hands with a groan, Tseng muttered, “Feel free to spare me the details.”

Rufus laughed.

“No wonder he wants to kill you.”

“I think he was so embarrassed, he didn’t even complain to my father.”

For several more hours they sat listening as one voice was replaced by another and then another. Some he recognized, some voices were random Shinra employees.

Down to 27.

The voice of the President issued from the phone. A conversation with Heidegger.

Tseng,who had been pacing, sat down, elbows resting on his thighs and fingers steepled in front of his face. It was hard to respect the people one worked for when his line of work exposed him to a great deal of things he'd rather not have known.

What few actually knew, was that so much of what they discovered could never see the light of day. The President knew that the Turks were as much of an asset as they were a danger.

Which was why Tseng made a point of signing off on every single report one of his subordinates handed in. There was a very fine line of what could show up in an official report and what couldn't. And while he trusted his people, he preferred the approach of 'Trust, but verify.'

It was a time consuming habit of his. But he'd rather waste his time than the life of one of his men or women.

Everyone wanted someone to do the dirty work but nobody wanted to know what that actually entailed.

For a moment, he’d considered stopping the recording but Rufus had already sat up and was listening attentively. What excuse could he offer to justify this as too confidential for someone like the vice president? Even if he were to find one, Rufus wouldn’t accept it.

“We were right,” Rufus said with a stony expression.

The President had had an affair with Heidegger’s wife and she had had a son by him.

They listened to Heidegger approaching the President time and again about ‘his’ son. But much like Rufus had suspected, the President wasn’t willing to consider an illegitimate child as his heir. At least not anymore. The pattern with which Heidegger brought up the topic, sometimes outright, sometimes casually, suggested that he had a clear goal in mind.

From what he could gather the boy didn’t know who his real father was. Which Heidegger no doubt used to his advantage. If he managed to get this Richard into the will and the President happened to die, he’d be controlling Shinra by proxy.

The only bump in the road for that plan was Rufus.

Tseng hit pause once the last of the recordings with Heidegger ended.

Rufus was watching him. “How many more are there?”

“That we know of? Now three.”

“Has my father ever considered replacing me? You know, don't you?”

Tseng felt a heavy weight settling in his stomach. He knew he could lie to Rufus, he could even be convincing enough that Rufus would believe him, probably. Leaning back on the sofa, Tseng looked at him for a long moment. “Don’t ask questions that you don’t want to hear the answers to.”

Rufus gave a humourless laugh. “How long have you known?”

“A while.”

Rufus watched him with a curious expression.

"What?"

“Nothing.” Rising from the sofa, Rufus stretched languidly, his shirt riding up to reveal a strip of pale skin.

Tseng had to look away.

Would things really go back to normal once they returned to Midgar? It was hard to think when half the time he was struggling, and failing, to keep his relationship with Rufus professional. They’d had their moments over the past ten years. Mostly when Rufus had been at his lowest but they had never crossed a certain line.

And while he'd always managed to put these things aside afterward, he couldn’t help worrying that one day he wouldn't be able to.

If only in an attempt to distract himself, Tseng resumed listening to the remaining recordings. Keeping himself busy usually kept him from fretting over things he couldn't change and the sooner he finished up, the sooner he could get back to Reno.

By the time he reached the penultimate file, he doubted that anything other than the proof that Heidegger wanted to change the line of succession in his favour would turn up. That was when the name dropped.

Evan Townshend.

Tseng immediately stopped the recording and grabbed his phone, calling Reno. The second the call was picked up, he said, “Who’s your last lead?”

“Er, boss-”

Tseng got to his feet. “Is it Evan?”

“Look, we weren’t sure and I didn’t want to worry-”

“Shit!” Pressing his fist against his forehead, Tseng took a deep breath. _Think about this._ “Where is Evan now? Have you found him?”

“No, we’re just on the way-”

“You need to pick him and his mother up right away. Take them somewhere safe. I’ll try reaching him and I’ll tell him where to expect you.”

“Got it.” The fact that Reno didn’t even try to argue, gave Tseng a bad feeling.

Ending the call, he stared at his phone for a moment, trying to recall Evan’s number. He couldn’t risk switching his work phone on.

“What’s going on?” Rufus stood in the middle of the room with folded arms.

Holding his hand up, Tseng dialed Evan’s number. “Give me one second, please.”

_Pick up._

When the phone rang a fourth time, he started pacing. This had to stop. He couldn't sit around in Mideel while others did his work for him.

"Hello? Who is this?”

Tseng almost sighed in relief at the boy’s uncertain voice. “Hey, it’s me.”

“Oh! I didn’t- You have a different-”

“Evan, where are you?”

There was a moment of silence on the other end. “Just on my way back home.”

“Okay, listen to me very carefully. Don’t go home. Remember where I parked my car the last time we met?”

“Um, sure… yes. What’s going on?”

“That’s where you’ll go. Immediately. Don’t go anywhere else, don’t call anyone and don’t talk to anyone but Reno who’ll come pick you up. You understand?”

Evan’s voice cracked when he replied, “Alright. Did something happen?”

“Not yet. I’ll explain once you and your mother are safe, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Be careful.”

“You too.”

Tseng hung up and texted Reno Evan’s location with the instructions to have Rude pick up the mother. Once done, he ran a hand through his hair with a frustrated curse. He should’ve thought of this the moment the whole angle about the President’s illegitimate children had come up.

The thought of having the boy die because he was sloppy turned his stomach.

“Who is this Evan?”

Closing his eyes, Tseng exhaled slowly. He was on edge and it wasn't Rufus' fault, whose question had sounded neutral enough. “Remember Anni?”

Rufus looked at him blankly for a moment before it dawned on him. “My father’s old secretary. You’re kidding right?”

“No. Evan Townshend is-”

“One of the old man’s bastards.” Rufus scoffed. “Why are you so concerned about him?”

Tseng swallowed the anger that welled up inside of him. “Because he’s my responsibility.”

“Care to elaborate?”

Tseng glanced at his phone when Reno’s message that he was on his way to Evan popped up. “He’s sixteen and lives with his mother in Sector 6. Because he’s one of the President’s sons, we have to keep an eye on him and his mother. I took over that duty. Three years ago.”

“You never mentioned him.” Rufus plopped back down on the sofa, his eyes never leaving Tseng.

Dropping his phone on the table, Tseng shook his head. “You didn’t know about him. Which was how it was supposed to stay.” He braced himself for some snide remark because if there was one thing Rufus hated, it was people keeping things from him.

“So, you think he’ll be targeted because he’s another bastard?” Rufus sounded surprisingly calm.

“Yes. If Heidegger wants his illegitimate son to inherit the company, he’s not going to run the risk of having another of the President’s children popping up at an inopportune moment. And there’ll always be people who might find out about Evan and use him for their own ends.”

“Was he the one my father considered?”

There was no need to ask for clarification. Tseng didn’t like where this line of questioning was going. “Yes.” He sat down next to Rufus, unable to gauge his reaction.

“And what do you think?”

“I don’t see how my opinion matters one way or the other. This was almost fifteen years ago. I only heard about it from Veld, shortly before I took over the Turks.”

Rufus tapped a finger against his chin in thought. His posture was relaxed but Tseng wasn't fooled. "Does he look anything like me? Lazard didn't. He was all my father."

"He does. Some."

"I can tell when you're lying, you know?" Rufus leaned his back against Tseng's shoulder and stretched his legs out onto the sofa. "Well, sometimes."

"I'm not lying." Tseng frowned at the back of Rufus' head. His hair smelled of the shampoo the landlady had left for them. Citrus and Aloe Vera or something. He'd been surprised that Rufus hadn't complained about it.

"A lie by omission is still a lie."

Tseng sighed. "What do you want to hear from me?"

"Well, you could always start with the truth." Rufus slid further down the couch, his head now resting against Tseng's shoulder.

"He looks a lot like you. Just younger. But he's nothing like you." Tseng raised his shoulder slightly, nudging Rufus' head. "I always find that a person’s character changes how someone looks to you."

"And what exactly is that supposed to mean?"

Leaning in, Tseng looked at Rufus upside down, a smile tugging at his lips. This was like handling explosives, one false move and you were done for. "It means, he's a friendly and sweet boy, not an entitled and mercurial man who'll bite my head off no matter my reply."

Rufus laughed. "You're a real asshole sometimes. I have feelings too, you know."

"Sure. Somewhere in that heart of stone of yours."

Rufus grabbed a strand of Tseng's hair, pulling him closer. "I'll have you beheaded for speaking ill of the court."

Tseng huffed a laugh.

Gods, he wanted to kiss Rufus.

His phone buzzed. Rufus let go of his hair and Tseng grabbed his phone from the table.

“Yes?”

“We got Evan and Annette.” Reno’s voice dropped to a whisper. “Let me tell you, the lady ain’t pleased.”

“Did you tell her the alternative?”

“Yeah. Still. We’ll take them to Kalm. That should be far enough out of the way until we’ve got a handle on this thing.”

“Good. Any progress on the investigation?” Tseng stood, closing his eyes for a moment as he tried to shake the image of Rufus’ lips.

“Er…”

“What is it?”

“Look, there was nothing I could do-”

“Reno-”

“Yo, boss, that tone gives me the creeps.”

Tseng frowned. “I won’t repeat myself.”

“I got good and bad news. What do you wanna-”

“Reno.”

“Fine, fine. Good news, Evan doesn’t know anything. Which might also be considered bad news because that lead went nowhere. But uh… the actual bad news is… well, you’ll get a call. You won’t like it. But! Bear with me! It’ll be help. That’s all I’m saying.”

“Is this a joke?”

“No? I really gotta go-”

“Reno-”

Tseng glared at his phone in disbelief when Reno hung up on him.

Before he got the chance to do anything else, his phone rang again.

Number unknown.

He jumped a little when Rufus looked over his shoulder.

“What’s going on?”

“I wish, I knew.” Tseng tapped the accept call button and raised the phone to his ear. “Yes?”

There was an all too familiar laugh on the other end, his stomach sank. What on the planet had possessed Reno to-

“If it isn’t my favourite Turk comrade.”

“You can’t be serious.”

There was another laugh. “You know, the weather is real nice in Costa de Sol. Why don’t you two come over? Heard there’s a bit too much company rabble flooding Mideel.”

“Who got you involved?”

“Charming as always. Really missed your attitude.” The man on the other end chuckled. “But you’re smart, you’ll figure it out. So, let’s talk business. There’ll be a chopper to pick you two up tonight at 8pm. I’ll send you the coordinates. Don’t be late.”

“Why are you helping?” Tseng realised he was grinding his teeth.

“Because I’ve got a big heart. Besides, wouldn’t I do anything to see your cheerful face again?”

“I don’t like this.” He wanted to strangle someone.

“Yeah, well. I had ladies in the house and I’m trading them in for two guys. So here we are. Neither of us is getting what we want but isn’t it all worth it because we’re doing it ‘for Shinra’.” The tone turned very sarcastic at the quote of the familiar slogan.

“Who’s flying the chopper?”

There was a chuckle and for the first time, Tseng noticed the background noise.

“You two better be on time. Ain’t got no time sitting around getting caught.”

The call was ended.

“Who was that? The voice sounded familiar.”

Tseng pinched the bridge of his nose. The last person he wanted help from.

“Legend."


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are two references, one more obscure than the other, to two other video games in this chapter. I'm kinda curious, who'll notice them. ;) 
> 
> Many thanks to **Nemi_Almasy** for betaing once more!

Tseng pulled his shirt off and stood in front of the mirror, slowly unwinding the bandage around his midriff. A dull pain had started up but the wound hadn’t reopened.

His stitching looked so haphazard, it was hard not to feel at least a little embarrassed. A trainee could have done better but he’d always hated stitching himself up. It wasn’t a huge problem in the grand scheme of things, since materia took care of most wounds but Tseng preferred not to use it if it wasn’t absolutely necessary. He’d seen too many of Shinra's experiments and research papers for that.

Rummaging through the first aid kit, he grabbed the antiseptic spray, healing lotion and some fresh bandages when he noticed Rufus standing in the doorway.

“You finished packing?”

Rufus rolled his eyes. “No.”

It was like talking to a recalcitrant child. He bit back the reminder that they were going to leave in less than an hour and ‘if you’re not ready, I’ll be leaving without you’ was probably a phrase every parent the world over had said to their child without even the slightest intention of actually going through with the threat.

“Do you need help?”

Strictly speaking, he could manage on his own but Rufus’ help would speed up the process considerably. However, it would also mean too much proximity yet again and there had already been enough of that to last him a lifetime. “I’m fine.”

Ignoring his words, Rufus walked over and came to stand behind him, frowning at Tseng’s back. “What the hell did you do with the stitching?”

“It wasn’t exactly easy to reach,” Tseng said a little defensively.

Rufus peered over his shoulder at Tseng’s reflection in the mirror. “Uh-huh, the front doesn’t look all that much better. What’s your excuse for that?”

“Oh, so you can do better?”

Rufus chuckled. “I can actually. You should’ve said something.”

Tseng watched Rufus in the mirror, trying to figure out if he was joking or not.

Rufus looked up. “What? I’m serious.”

He did know that Rufus wasn’t squeamish with regards to injuries, blood and all the unsavoury things that came with it. It was one of those things that had surprised him back in the day when he’d still thought that Rufus was a pampered rich guy who couldn’t fight his way out of a wet paper bag.

It felt like such a long time ago now.

“I could redo the stitching, but without healing materia I’d say we leave it at least until we get to Costa del Sol. I mean, the wound hasn’t reopened…for some reason.”

“Are you done with your examination, doctor?” Tseng raised his eyebrows.

Rufus laughed. “Sure. Let me help you.”

Before Tseng could protest, Rufus had snatched the antiseptic spray from his hand. “You’ve a lot more scars than I would’ve thought but then again, probably also a lot less than you could have.” His fingers brushed against Tseng’s shoulder blade who tensed involuntarily. Pulling back as if he’d noticed Tseng’s reaction, Rufus sprayed some antiseptic on the wound before holding out his hand for the healing lotion.

“There was a quote from a nursery rhyme about stitching up corpses in an old medical book I once read, back when they still used actual thread.” Rufus had leaned in as he applied the lotion, his breath ghosting over Tseng’s back as he talked somewhat matter-of-factly.

It reminded Tseng of doctors prattling on during an examination or treatment to calm a nervous patient.

“Sew red to red, yellow to yellow, white to white and everything will be alright. It was actually quite charming, considering how morbid these nursery rhymes usually were. Well, including that one.” Straightening back up, he held the lotion and spray back out to Tseng. “Done.”

Even after all these years there were still things about Rufus he didn’t know.

Rufus must’ve noticed his surprised expression because he smiled lopsidedly and said, “My mother had studied to become a doctor before she married the old git. Nothing ever came of it afterwards but she kept all her books. Sometimes she would show them to me. Great reading for a child, let me tell you.”

Tseng had never met Rufus’ mother who had died when Rufus was still a child. There was hardly anything he knew about her and it was rare for Rufus to talk about her.

“You stitched this back in Junon?”

“Yeah.”

“Why didn’t you use any healing materia? I had some at my apartment.”

Tseng shrugged and used the antiseptic on the entry wound. “I don’t like using it unless necessary.”

“Unless necessary? You have a hole in your side.” Rufus snorted. “Well, next time you decide to heal up the hard way, at least let me do the stitching.”

“You got your high horse all saddled up, yeah?”

Rufus laughed. “The one time I discover something you can’t do? You bet I do.”

Tseng couldn’t help his own laugh.

After he was done with the healing lotion, he took the little piece of cotton soaked in more lotion that Rufus held out to him and pressed it against the injury on his stomach while Rufus did the same at his back before they started wrapping the gauze around his waist.

It took some back and forth between them until the gauze was secure and the bandage could go over it.

Rufus tugged the end of the bandage in at his side. “Why weren’t you wearing a vest?”

“I didn’t expect to stay. My plan was just to drop Reno and Rude off.” Tseng took a new shirt from his suitcase and put it on when he noticed Rufus’ odd expression. “What is it?”

“You still stepped into the line of fire. She could’ve killed you.”

“It’s my job to protect you. Vest or no.” Tseng frowned. “The vice president of Shinra is a little harder to replace than a Turk.”

“Replace,” Rufus scoffed. “But sure, literally anyone could take over your work.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“Well, the implication was pretty clear.”

“Rufus-“

“What? You’re telling me, you wouldn’t be at least a little irritated if I started talking about my death so casually?”

Tseng clenched his jaw. If Rufus were to die, in his presence no less, it would be his fault and he knew he would never forgive himself. But that was different. It was his duty to protect Rufus no matter what happened. And even if it would hurt beyond the fact that he’d failed at his job, the truth of the matter was that someone else could and would replace him if he were to die. The same couldn’t be said for Rufus.

“I mean, with all the new information that’s come to light, it seems my father would have spares aplenty if I were to die.” Rufus said sardonically.

“Will you stop talking like that?”

“Oh?” Rufus folded his arms. “Bothers you to hear me talk about how easily I could be replaced, does it?”

Tseng pressed his lips into a thin line. “You know it does.”

“Wonderful. Then maybe you can understand how I feel when you do the same.”

He wasn’t oblivious to the fact that Rufus cared about him. They’d known each other for years and were closer than most work relationships had a right to be but it didn’t change who they were and that it was Tseng’s duty to die for Rufus if that was what it took to keep him safe.

Pointing that out to Rufus, however, would only lead to further arguments, so he held his tongue.

“Let’s stop with this, alright?”

Rufus didn’t look happy but shrugged and turned to go. “Fine.”

“Don’t forget to pack.”

“How long can it take? I’ll throw everything into the bag. Two minutes? Done.” Rufus scoffed. “But I’ll go and do it now if only to get you off my back about it.”

Tseng shook his head with a smile, the expression vanishing from his face the moment Rufus left the room. The thought of Rufus dying was too painful to consider. He hated it when they got into one of their arguments. Though he wasn’t sure if it could even be called that. It was never really a fight per se but…

Tseng decided to check in on Evan as he packed, if only to distract himself.

“Hello?”

“It’s me.” He grabbed his clothes from the wardrobe and dropped them onto the bed.

“Oh! Everything went well. Mum and I are… well, I’m not sure where we are.”

“Somewhere safe for the time being. How is your mother?”

“Um… hang on.” There was the sound of a door closing and a sigh. “She’s glad I’m safe and all… but yeah, not happy about the situation. I mean, I don’t really understand any of it. I asked her why Shinra would care about us but she wouldn’t say.”

He couldn’t say he hadn’t expected the question to come up sooner or later but it wasn’t his place to tell Evan about it. “Don’t press her about it.”

Evan sighed. “I won’t. She always looks so guilty and I… will you tell me some time? You know, don’t you?”

“I’m sorry but this is something your mother should tell you.”

“Alright,” he sounded quite crestfallen. “Maybe once things have gone back to normal. They will, won’t they?”

“Yes.”

“Are you out of town?”

“Something like that. But you and your mother will be fine. Reno and Rude will check in with you now and again. If anything’s wrong, you call Reno, okay?”

“I’d rather call you.”

Tseng chuckled. “I’m too far away to be of help.”

“I saw the papers on the attempt on the vice president’s life in Junon,” Evan said. “You were there, weren’t you? Is that why you had to leave town? To keep the vice president safe?”

“You know, I can’t answer those questions, Evan.”

“It’s your duty to keep him safe, isn’t it?”

“Among other things, yes.”

“I don’t like him.”

Tseng couldn’t help his smile. “And why would you say that?”

There was a moment of silence before Evan muttered, “Nevermind.” A few more beats of silence. “It’s just… I’ve seen him on TV, you know. He’s always so perfect and charming. But people like him never are. Not really.”

Tseng bit back his chuckle. “Met a lot of people like him, have you?”

“Well, no. But…” Evan sighed. “So there is something to like about him? Rufus Shinra, I mean… you like him?”

“I think he’s a good man, yes. What brought on this mood?”

“I think, I’m just scared. I’m trying not to show it in front of mum but…”

“It’s perfectly normal to be scared.” Tseng sat down on the bed and ran a hand through his hair.

“Are you ever scared?”

Tseng smiled. “Everyone is at some point.”

“Can’t really imagine,” Evan remarked sheepishly. “How are you? You’re okay… right? Not in danger because of what’s happening?”

“I’m fine.”

“Yeah, you always say that. Hope it’s true.” Evan knew he was lying but there was no way for him to demand the truth. “Do you know when you’ll be back?”

“No. But hopefully soon. In the meantime, you do what Reno and Rude tell you, so I know I don’t have to worry, alright?”

“Do you really?”

“What?”

“Worry.”

Tseng laughed. “You get in trouble all the time, how can I not worry?”

“Hey, that’s not fair” Evan mumbled, flustered. “I don’t get in trouble that often.” After a moment, he had to laugh too. “Well… maybe you’re right.”

“I have to go. Be careful.”

“You too.”

Tseng dropped the phone on his bed with a sigh and rubbed a hand over his face as the cat hopped onto his bed and climbed onto his lap.

“I really don’t have time for this.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------

It was just past seven when they made their way through Mideel’s jungle.

The humidity had reached such levels of excruciating intensity that it had become hard to breathe. Their pace was accordingly measured, if not to say slow. The only saving grace was that the trees at least hid the sun, though the temperatures remained at an all-time high regardless. If they tried they could probably cut the air with a knife.

Tseng had tied his hair back into a ponytail but it was still a nuisance. Perhaps changing locations wasn’t such a bad idea after all, even if he had to content himself with Legend. At least the heat in Costa del Sol was a dry one.

Back at the flat, he’d contemplated wearing a dress shirt because the thought of meeting Legend in casual clothes had inevitably bothered him. He realised if his pride had won out on that one, he’d be regretting it by now. Quite a bit too.

“Air conditioning is the greatest invention of all time,” Rufus muttered under his breath while pushing a strand of hair out of his face and wiping beads of perspiration off the tip of his nose.

Tseng bit back a smile.

Over the years, he’d been with Rufus through about every climate imaginable (strangely enough, Rufus seemed to have a penchant for snow) but humid heat was without a doubt the only weather condition Rufus outright loathed. Apparently, or so Rufus had told him, there was no way to look good in humid heat.

Looking at Rufus now, Tseng wasn’t sure how true that was.

He knew Rufus wasn’t a vain man, he just didn’t like to appear unkempt, and sweating and having one’s hair stick up every which way certainly wasn’t the most put together someone could look but Tseng doubted anything could actually ruin Rufus’ looks.

Maybe that was just his infatuation talking but judging by the reactions Rufus got from most other people, his opinion on the matter might not be a solitary one.

Tseng stopped dead in his tracks when he heard a noise in the underbrush to his right. Dropping his bag, he drew his gun from the waistband at his back. “Get behind me.”

It was the only order Rufus followed without question, even if he had learned it the hard way.

Tseng narrowed his eyes at the thicket. They were in the worst position. If someone was in there, they were like sitting ducks. But making a run for it would hardly change that.

The noises of the jungle didn’t make things easier either.

Tseng saw the flash of a weapon being fired and pulled Rufus to the ground as he jumped out of way and returned fire.

A groan from the trees told him that he’d hit his target.

“Stay down.” He glanced at Rufus, before watching for movement in the underbrush, recalling that the boy had mentioned “Soldiers” in Mideel but not how many.

It was then that he saw something moving again and he fired on a hunch. There was a sound much like someone toppling over. Without taking his eyes off the spot, Tseng said, “Get up. Stay behind me at all times and we’ll back up. Leave the bags.”

Rufus got to his feet slowly, stepping up behind Tseng who reached back with his free arm and held on to Rufus’ waist to make sure he wouldn’t accidentally expose himself in some way as they walked backwards to the thicket on the other side of the way. One step at a time.

There was no more movement from the trees.

Once they’d reached the more or less safety of the underbrush themselves, Tseng told Rufus to stay put before venturing back out and ignoring Rufus pointedly pursing his lips. If push came to shove, Rufus had a gun too and could defend himself.

Very slowly, he approached the spot where he’d hit whoever their assailants were but veered to the right to step behind a tree. The constant chirping and screaming of birds along with the buzz of insects made it almost impossible to hear someone’s movement.

The only reason he’d heard their attackers in the first place was because one of them had snapped a branch. Which had made him draw the hesitant conclusion that they probably weren’t locals.

“Come out or I’ll kill both of you.” It was an idle threat, which, if he were to follow through with it, would just have him firing into the jungle without an actual target.

For a long moment there was no answer until at last someone limped out of the thicket.

A simple Shinra infantry man. His left leg was bleeding.

“Drop your weapon.”

He did.

“Where’s your friend?”

The man hesitated, looked back at the foliage and seemed to contemplate what answer he wanted to give.

Gods, these people really weren’t very smart.

Tseng stepped out from behind the tree and pointed his gun at the man. “Hands were I can see them. Is he dead?”

The other man nodded slowly.

“Good. Drag him out. Now. Any unsolicited moves and I will shoot you.”

Tseng watched with narrowed eyes as the soldier dragged his colleague out of the thicket. He was indeed dead. Shot in the chest. Tseng recalled firing at the spot the weapon’s flash had come from. “Okay, drop him. How many more are there?”

“Just… the two of us.”

“Take your helmet off.”

The man did. He looked tense and very sweaty. No wonder with that uniform and the helmet. Who was stupid enough to go out in gear like that? Well, Heidegger’s men obviously. They’d even approached the locals in all their Shinra glory. What morons.

“You have a phone on you?”

The man nodded again.

Tseng held his hand out. “Give it to me and that of your fellow too.” He watched as the infantry man pulled the phone from the dead man’s pocket before approaching slowly, hands held out in front of him. Tseng slipped both phones into his pocket. “Who sent you here?”

“Our superior.”

“And who’s that?”

“Valerie Howard.” The name didn’t ring a bell.

“And above that?”

The man looked pale.

“What’s your name?”

“Josh. Josh Banks.”

“Right, Josh. Let me explain your position to you. I like to be as candid as possible in these situations. You know who I am, I’m assuming?”

“Yes.” If possible he grew paler.

“Good. What did you think you would find here on Mideel?”

“I...” His eyes strayed to where Rufus was hidden. “We were… under the assumption that you abducted the vice president and-”

Tseng shot into the ground at Josh’s feet. “Stop wasting my time by lying. You just said that you know who I am. Now I’m not asking again.”

Josh had tensed up at the shot. “We had orders to kill you and the vice president.”

“And you never thought to question these orders?”

He swallowed. “They said you were…” He looked a little ill. “Traitors.”

“The vice president too?” Tseng couldn’t keep the amusement from his voice. How stupid these run-of-the-mill foot soldiers were.

Josh shrugged haplessly.

“So, it was you who approached the local boys to find us?”

He nodded.

Tseng took Josh’s phone from his pocket and swiped his thumb across the screen, while he kept his gun trained on the man. “Password.” He looked up and raised an eyebrow expectantly when the answer wasn’t immediately forthcoming.

“12345.”

It took some self-control not to roll his eyes. “Sign-off code.”

“2B.”

“Now.” Tseng watched Josh. “What were your last orders and your agreed upon check-in time?”

“We were supposed to approach your apartment and report back by 8pm at the latest.”

They didn’t have time to wait until 8pm. Legend would be waiting and if his estimate was correct, they would need at least another 15 minutes to get there.

“I’ll write your superior now that you had trouble finding the apartment and that you’re requesting more time. If that sign-off code you told me is correct, we’ll know in just a moment. If there’s anything you want to add, now is the time.”

Josh looked at him as if he’d bitten into a lemon. “Sir, please...”

Oh, so he was ‘sir’ now. Tseng almost snorted. Raising his eyebrows, he waited.

“I can’t.”

“You’ll find that you don’t have a choice. I’ll work my way up your legs and I know where to shoot to drag it out.”

“It’s… it’s 9S. 2B is the alarm code.”

He’d thought so. His lips twitched into a humourless smile. “I hope for your sake that that’s true.” Keeping his gun trained on Josh, he typed up a short message and sent it off. The reaction was almost instant. Josh hadn’t lied.

Looking back up, Tseng slipped the phone back into the pockets of his pants. “Where are your written orders?”

“We don’t-”

Tseng sighed. “Josh. I told you not to waste my time.” He approached the man who backed up a step or two in shock, wincing as he put weight on his injured leg.

“Sir, please- Wait. I-”

“Shut up.” He stopped a few paces from Josh. “Turn around.”

Josh stared at him with wide eyes, hands clenching.

“Turn. Around.”

When Josh finally did, Tseng took a step closer and kicked his legs out from under him before crouching down above the man, gun pressed against the back of his neck.

“Sadly we’ll have to resume our conversation like this.”

Josh had turned his head to the side, face contorted with pain. The left leg of his pants was almost completely soaked with blood. He had to wrap this up before Josh lost consciousness.

“Where are your written orders?”

“We don’t have anything on paper but- but there are files on my phone.”

“I’ll be able to access them now?” Tseng took the phone back out. “Which folder?”

It took some back and forth before Tseng found the folder and files, which were of course encrypted but didn’t seem to have any other obvious security provisions. Josh told him the codes without much prompting and, truth be told, Tseng was surprised to see Heidegger’s signature at the bottom.

“Can the files be forwarded?”

“Yes.”

“Do I need to try this out right now and send the file to your dead friend?”

“If you want...” He swallowed. “What I told you is true though.”

Tseng made sure Josh wasn’t lying all the same. There was no immediate alert. “Well done, Josh. Where else has Heidegger sent his men?”

Josh started to look terrified. “I don’t know… I swear. We only got our orders. It was all very… very hush-hush. We were sent out at night. Meeting in the parking lot and all. I- I’m not lying.”

“Alright, I believe you.”

“Will you… let me go?”

Tseng gave him a smile. How stupid these men were. “You are joking, right?”

“But I told you everything!”

“Oh, I’m sure you did. But I’d rather you didn’t tell anybody else, especially not about where you’ve seen the vice president and me.”

“I won’t, I-”

Tseng stood up and pulled the trigger, turning his face away from the blood splatter. He drew his own phone from his pocket and checked the time. 7.52pm.

They’d be late.

Pushing the gun back into the waistband at his back, Tseng signalled for Rufus to come out.

Rufus approached with a frown and looked at the two dead infantry men in distaste. “I’m a little insulted that the fat windbag would send _this_ after us.”

“Well, his biggest vice is probably his arrogance. We should go. Legend will be waiting and I’ll have to send Reno all the files.”

There was no need to hide the bodies, so they just took their bags and continued on their way as Tseng typed up what they’d found to Reno and forwarded the files from the dead infantry man’s phone first to his own and then to Reno’s. Since he was planning to leave his burner phone behind, it didn’t really matter if somebody somehow managed to trace the file transfer from Josh’s phone.

“They were cannon fodder to flush us out,” Tseng said, once he was done.

“Bit careless of Heidegger to get so many people involved.”

"Yes, well. I’m assuming everyone has gotten different orders. Having us killed as traitors is rather candid though. I don’t think he was planning for those two to survive or any of the men he’s sent out for that matter. If there’s one thing Heidegger enjoys rather a little too much, it’s replacing his men on a regular basis.”

“Maybe don’t shoot people up close next time,” Rufus said with a wry smile.

Tseng glanced down at himself for the first time. There was some blood on his pants and a little on his shirt. Overall it could’ve been much worse. “And that’s why we usually wear black suits.”

Rufus chuckled.

They reached the clearing Legend had directed them to just as the chopper descended.

It was 8.07pm.

_He’s late._

The wind whipping at them was a pleasant change to the stifling heat. Once the chopper had touched down, Tseng approached and opened the sliding door on the side, throwing his bag inside before taking Rufus’ bag and doing the same.

He stepped aside and gestured for Rufus to get in and followed after a short glance back into the jungle.


End file.
